Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-09-03
,I.N AND MANNERS
A. Seen az the white by u. NV. d.
The spring. the Laborer. and
orr Young Man.

Our Young Man.
The New York Times correspondent,
II. J. w. d., still finds food for refec-
ton at the White Sulphur. The follow
ing is taken from his letter in yester-
days paper:
Your first object OF interest is the
sulphur spring. This is n circular pool
of clear water with greenish tint, sur
mounted by ON Ionic pavilion with.
twelve columns painted red-gray aud
mnrbled. The ceiling is decorated with
pink Venus. who has a painful ex-
preston of countenance as she rides on
a pink ocean in wooden cradle with
ont rockers. The only assignable cause
for her agony is seemingly an overdose
OF dried apples followed by an incautious
indulgence in cold water. She is GER
tainly either very i'll or badly out of
drawing. A mulatto boy fishes up four
glasses of water from the spring, and
you are about to drink one when you
stop and consider. The water has On
individuality, so to speak; bouquet
that gives you the impression that
death has lowered near and perhaps
fallen in. Nevertheless, you drink It,
and then sit down with the other devo-
tees of the birthstone cocktail to watch
yourself get well. Old Burrill SAYS the
water is great thing if you want "to
git shet of malaria 1t probably is.
No malaria, not even the most vicious
and depraved of its kind, could live in
the same system with that sui phur wa
ter. 1t would cure the bite of rattle
snake or the nerves of prima donna.
Behind the spring the labor problem
of the South lies asleep in the sunshine
on the grass. He is in several kinds of
rags, but he is perfectly happy. He
would be equally happy without any
clothing at all. All he asks of life is to
be allowed to wear rags, be idle, and
have enough food of any kind to keep
soul and body together. He will not
work any oftener or any longer than he
can help. He has no sense of moral
obligation and will not pay his bills
when he gets money. This of course.
refers to the lowest negro class, the
great mass of former slaves and their
progeny. He csnnotread or write, and
would be too lazy to do either if he knew
how. Every southerner here says that the
South would be magnificent country
if it had fair quality of labor, but
that no enterprise can be relied on with
negro labor to carry it out. A we'll
known Virginian states that he has
thousand acres of the finest land in the
State. which he has offered to both of
his sons but neither will take it, be-
cause with the kind of labor available
it cannot be profitably conducted.
there are but a few thousand more
whites in the State of Virginia at the
present time than negroes, and the lat
ter are increasing the more rapidly.
The negro problem is a sinister one to
the southerners, and there seems to be
no solution for it. Perhaps it is a
judgment.
A man comes up to you, and in a
iimid, almost sneaking way offers yo1
peaches for purchase. He is tall, gaunt,
has watery blue eyes and a general look
of utter shiftlessness and incapacity.
He has an old, faring, black felt hat.
His clothing is but little better than the
negroes. He has few acres of ground,
a few sticks of corn, and a shanty in
some hollow hereabout, where he gets
food enough to escape starvation and
breeds gaunt children to grow up and
follow in his footsteps. He is poor
white trash" In general value he is
close TO the negro which has produced
him. He unquestionably is trash.
There never was filter name for
more melancholy article.
The big oaks shade the sward some
young people are playing tennis, and
Their bright costumes make picturesque
the morning scene. A beautiful Louis
vile glrl in a red dress, a scarlet
Scotch cap, and expressive black eyes,
makes a series OF pictures in her unaf-
fected, enthusiastic, and graceful play.
Seated about under the trees the old
people look on. All the remarks,
whether they be "out," "deuce,"
Glove all, or any others. have an ac-
cent peculiarly and strongly southern.
II is strange that the most cultivated
people of that section still are 50 pro-
nounced in what is distinctly yerna-
cular. Cosmopolitan as many of them
are in all else, they cling to their local
method of speech as if they were proud
of it, as perhaps they are.
THE SOUTHERN YOUNG MAN,
who is the controlling force here, is
usually distinguishable primarily by
his nose. 1t is always straight, aqui
line, or Roman-nev q snub. Good
noses are distinguishing race trait of
the South. Otherwise he does not APP
pear to take pre-eminent rank, how
ever, as he averages below the medium
height, and is lightly built as rule.
he is, par excellence, a society man,
and the most industrious of cavaliers.
Some one Of him usually takes the lead
ininsuguratiDg entertainments, and ger
mans and mule races he is equally en-
thusiastic in promoting. His preferred
locality is the hotel ballroom. This is
n large hall in the front corner of the
first floor, with polished floor and a
frcscoed ceiling. The frescoes portray
four ladies evidently belonging to
preceding era, for their single garment
is prevented from falling entirely of OF
them by soma secret of the mOdis'e,
either glue or carpet tacks, which has
entirely escaped the modern dress
maker. The builder says they are Juno,
Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta, and the boot
black says their names are Malarh, In
somnia, Pneumonia, and Diphtheria.
The difference is somewhat wide, but
as you pay your money you are per-
miited TO take your choice. =
Virginia HEIRS INTERESTED.